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Photonic crystal

Photonic crystals (PCs) are extremely small structures, typically no more than a few micrometers on a side, which are made of alternating regions of insulating material and air. One way this can be achieved is by drilling or etching holes in the material at regular intervals in a grid pattern. A beam of photons passing through a PC thus experiences periodic changes in refractive index – high in the insulator, low in the air holes.

This is strikingly analogous to what electrons experience as they move through the geometry of a semiconductor lattice, and it allows researchers to manipulate the passage of light through PCs in much the same way that electrons are controlled in a transistor. For example, creating a defect in the crystal lattice can strongly confine photons much the same way that electrons are confined in lattice defects of a crystal.

About JQI

The Joint Quantum Institute is a research partnership between University of Maryland (UMD) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, with the support and participation of the Laboratory for Physical Sciences.

Created in 2006 to pursue theoretical and experimental studies of quantum physics in the context of information science and technology, JQI is located on UMD's College Park campus.